Starlings

Just some starlings fighting over an apple this winter.  Thanks for stopping by!

Boone Gardens 2014

There are rumblings that seedlings will be started soon.  Stay tuned for more details.

Winter Blues

Thanks for stopping by!  We are almost in the dead of winter around here with about 3" of snow on top of the garden.  Since there is not a lot we can do right now I thought I would share a gardening video that I made with you to help pass some of those long winter nights away.  Enjoy!

Getting back to work!

Well the spring season has finally struck, and I'm ready to hope that no more cold nights lay ahead of us, so it's time to start laying everything out. Truth be told, there's a lot going on at the garden already: asparagus has come and been picked, lettuce thrives in the front boxes, kale and spinach have come and gone, and now we've got cabbage and onions going strong and a strawberry patch that will hopefully come back from the brink of a vicious (rabbit? / deer?) attack. And I just put in some potatoes tonight. Today was a good day because there are more people than ever before working hard to make the garden a better place. There's Linda who knows how to manage and plant the flowers around the borders of our veggie patches. There's Jim and Bill who are keeping the lawn at a military-grade crew cut--to boot, Jim has tilled us additional acreage this year and we're certain to have a bigger harvest than last year. Soon there will be corn, squash and beans to plant along with the ever growing parade of tomatoes. What's more is that we've seen lots of additional color around the garden this year, most recently with the addition of marigolds and yarrow. Furthermore, Val planted some lavender. Some have been asking which flowers are good to bring up and plant, and the easy answer is that any flowers will do. However, flowers like calendula, yarrow, marigolds, petunias, purple coneflowers and bronze fennel are all good bets because they bring in beneficial insects into the garden. Also, our garden has been invited to participate at a farmers / craft market in historic Rabbit Hash, KY this June. We can sell plant starts, any harvest, and any arts and crafts that anyone should wish to donate. If you have a creative idea for selling stuff at this even, please share your thoughts. We may be able to raise some significant money for future projects if we apply ourselves. Anyhow, I'm going to save anything else a later post, but in the meantime, it is my hope to bring some new voices to the blog if they'll contribute. Look for that soon! To tide you over, here is a recent picture of the garden and a tree that we planted in honor of Ruby Goderweis. There will be a ceremony to remember her at the garden on May 19th. We've got a bit of cleaning up to do before then! It should be fun!

Musings on the New Year

Greetings everyone! Even though it's only ten days into January and we've yet to have a hard snow, who can help but turn with a hopeful eye toward Spring with this unseasonable warm weather we've been having? I say take advantage of those extra rays of sun while we can!

I know at the start of every year, there's a lot of talk of resolutions. One of my resolutions is to stop treating the blogs I co-author like neglected stepchildren. This post, I say, is a small step in the right direction.

There hasn't been much going on up at the garden lately except continuing compost. Oh! I almost forgot! With the help of my dad, I planted a tree for the Boondocks Redhatters Society in memory of Ruby Goterwis, a resident of Boone Lake who passed away. The tree is a Sunset Red Maple, about twelve feet tall, and will ultimately reach 35' in height and span an area 35' in diameter. It is my sincere hope to lobby the community to put a bench out under that tree once it begins to spread out. One thing I hope to do this year is to put the "community" aspect back in the garden. I think the whole area is a social reclamation project waiting to happen.

Furthermore, I was elected President of Boone Lake Club this year by our board! Hopefully this will make it easier to get increased participation during the growing season.

Stay tuned for more blog posts! I've got a great one right around the corner for making seed starting containers that you can set outside and forget about!

Brian

New Management

Nathan here, and I would like to inform the lake community that I have moved away to the big city and will no longer be as active in the garden club.  I will still be around the lake from time to time but please refer all questions to Brian Maurer from here on out.  Please check back soon for updates!

So Sorry

We in the garden club would like to apologize for the extreme lack of posts here on the blog.  It is not that we are  lazy, far from it, just regular life has thrown some curves and things needed to be done outside of the garden project.  But, through it all, the garden has been producing and going through its natural life cycle.  The sunflowers have all been broken down and are composting, and the tomatoes will be ripped out of the ground today and hung up in a shed for ripening.  If you need any more tomatoes, please come stop by Brian's house anytime and there will be some available for at least the next week.  There is plenty of lettuce that is taking off near the front of the garden - if you take some scissors and a kroger bag up there just give the leaf lettuce a haircut and it will grow back twice as big for your salad next week.  There is also kale, carrots, and chard coming up - all super-foods that will increase your wellness and vitality. 

After a load of scrap is taken off, the garden club will be able to buy some plastic to cover the hoop houses that have been built for the fall/spring garden.  Then it will just be a matter of some clean up for the winter and preparing for a garden that we plan on being at least 3x as prosperous next year.  But, please, come on up and help harvest the fall greens that are coming up now; most is just going to waste from lack of harvest or the deer are getting to it before we can.  Again, we apologize for the lack of posts and hope to be more vigilant in the future.  Keep on growin' y'all...........

P.S.  NEW PAGE ALERT:  The Eco-Nati Radio Show page is up and running.  Why?  Because we are taking this gardening project to the airwaves starting in November!

P.P.S.  The Local NKY / Cincinnati Page is also in the process of being updated so check it out as well!

The Fall Dispatch

For the next letter in TOPICS:

Hey Boone Lake! The Boone Gardens Crew would like to extend a warm thanks to all those who helped make the spring and summer gardens such a succes this year. We truly couldn't have gotten by without so many great people pitching in their support, time, and contributions. You may have noticed the recent addition of a picnic table to the grounds. Consider the table an open invitation for anyone who wishes to come sit a spell and have a friendly chat!

Even though the summer season is at an end, that doesn't mean that the work is done. We are now working towards planting a fall harvest garden to be picked from September through November. The lettuce will be ready in about a week. Feel free to come and pick it! Any interested parties who would like to join our efforts in this fall garden are welcome to contact us through our website at http://boonegardens.blogspot.com. We will be planting chard, kale, winter greens, lettuce, carrots, beets, broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts and a whole plethora of other stuff, so come by and check it out.

We also have a constant need for organic compost and mulch to build the soil for next year. We have built a few wire-bin composts around the garden so you can dump your vegetable trimmings or yard waste there at any time. Please also remember that while leaves make an excellent mulch and rebuild the soil, we need to keep them separated from other compost operations for the time being, until they are broken down. You can leave bags of leaves by the picnic table at any time. It helps if the leaves are chopped so they break down faster, but if you can't do that, we will! Your leaves and composted materials will be put to good use!

Also being put to good use are your aluminum can contributions. We will never stop collecting cans for the garden, and so far this year we have collected several batches of cans that have helped us buy things like the PVC pipes we will use to protect winter crops, the gas we use to mow the garden, and the seeds that we will plant for next spring. Please dump the cans in the “Al Can” by the garage up front or feel free to leave them by the picnic table up at the garden and we'll see to them ourselves.

Next year, we plan to offer individual plots to those in the BLC community who wish to grow their own vegetables or flowers. We will help you clear a space, we will give you the seeds, and we will help you grow what you want. All you have to do is show up with a willingness to get your hands a little dirty! There will also be a “you-pick-it” garden incorporated into next year's layout. If you would like to have a say in what happens at Boone Gardens, you are welcome to join the informal committee at any time. Just see Ty, Nathan, or Brian for additional details.

Thanks a lot, Boone Lake!

--The Boone Gardens Crew

A Modest Two Days' Harvest

Hey, everyone! Here's a picture of everything we've picked the last few days, minus what we've already thrown on pizzas or the basil we've turned into fresh pesto. In this picture, you will see cucumbers, zucchini, and summer squash along with freshly picked Dragon (burgundy) and Scarlet Nantes (orange) carrots, red potatoes, and the first of the All-Blue potatoes we've picked from the four boxes up front! We got them from Seed Savers' Exchange. Did you know there are over 4,000 types of potatoes?

Garden Cooking

I got an email from a visitor that had helped out in the garden this past week which happened to include a picture and a recipe of what she had made from the produce picked straight out of the garden earlier that day!  So, if you are wondering what to do with all of that squash, zucchini and chard that is up there right now, take a look at the email recipe below, and feel free to email in your own creations as well:

Started with melting my butter, added diced onions until it smells good in the kitchen, then added the squash.  Let that brown a bit, while chopping the chard up in bite sized pieces.  I added that and let them saute, and added a clove of crushed garlic.  After I took it off the heat, I added just a smidge of balsamic vinaigrette to it and tossed it in and added a bit of pepper.  Muah.  Amazing.